TIRANA, Aug. 17 – Due to a technical error by officials, more than 150,000 children who were issued Albanian biometric passports up to July 2010 will have to get new ones, causing debate about costs and passport issuance management.
The Ministry of Interior said that children are only entitled to a five-year passport, but they were issued ten-year ones by mistake from April 2009 to July 2010. Thousands of passports containing the error were issued.
The revelation came at a time of high tension as thousands of Albanians, most of whom live abroad, have complained authorities are taking too long to issue new passports.
At least one physical fight has broken out as people wait in line for hours to apply for passports, footage from the southern city of Vlora showed.
The issue has also turned political as the opposition Democratic Party said the government was trying to extract more money from Albanian pockets at a time when poverty and lack of hope is driving thousands of Albanians to leave the country, seeking a better life in Western Europe.
The governing Socialist Party officials said their predecessors in government where to blame, accusing the Democrats of causing Albanians to pay an extra €11 million to renew the passports.
In a press statement this week, officials said that by law, children’s passports can only be valid for five years, in compliance with the international travel documents standards.
The Ministry of Interior said that between April 2009 and July 2010, more than 156,000 passports were issued to Albanian citizens under 16 years of age, with an incorrect 10-year validity.
These must now renew their passports, even-though the documents appear to be valid as issued.
The ministry has proposed to allow these children and young adults some extra time to renew the documents.
“The ministry proposed an additional one-year postponement, making these passports valid for six years to allow their holders to apply for new biometric passports,” an official statement noted.
